A preliminary phytolith analysis of terrace soils from Buffelskloof, Mpumalanga, South Africa

ABSTRACT

Even though numerous studies have explored the layout, location, and chronology of Bokoni settlements of the second millennium AD (Mpumalanga province, South Africa), relatively little is known about the type of food cultivated by its people. In pursuit of direct evidence for crops and to understand the environmental conditions that prevailed during the site’s occupation we conducted a phytolith analysis of sediments collected from a terrace at Buffelskloof (BFK1). While we were able to determine that Zea mays (maize) was not cultivated in the sampled terrace, we were not able to determine if any African domesticates were grown on the terraced area. Iph and Ic indexes were used to determine that BFK1 received more rainfall during the site’s occupation than at present and temperatures fluctuated. The Broadleaf index (D/P°) was used to determine the amount of tree cover and showed that BFK1 was situated in an open grassland during some periods of the site’s occupation.

RÉSUMÉ

Même si de nombreuses études ont exploré la disposition, l'emplacement et la chronologie des sites Bokoni du deuxième millénaire après J.-C. (province de Mpumalanga, Afrique du Sud), on sait toujours relativement peu sur le type de nourriture cultivée par leurs habitants. À la recherche de données directes relatives aux cultures et dans le but de comprendre les conditions environnementales qui prévalaient pendant l'occupation du site, nous avons effectué une analyse phytolithique des sédiments prélevés sur une terrasse à Buffelskloof (BFK1). Bien que nous ayons pu déterminer que Zea mays (le maïs) n'était pas cultivé sur la terrasse étudiée, nous n'avons pas été en mesure de déterminer si des plantes domestiques d’origine africaine y étaient cultivées. Les indices Iph et Ic ont été utilisés pour déterminer que BFK1 a reçu davantage de précipitations pendant l'occupation du site que présentement et que les températures ont fluctué. L'indice de feuilles larges (D/P°) a été employé pour déterminer le couvert arboré et a montré que BFK1 était situé dans une prairie ouverte pendant certaines périodes de l'occupation du site.

KEYWORDS:

• Phytolith analysis
• South Africa
• Bokoni terraces
• agriculture
• environmental reconstruction

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the University of the Witwatersrand, the Kent Foundation and the National Research Foundation. The authors would like to thank Petrus Chakane and Sam Tshabalala for their assistance in the palynology laboratory. We would also like to thank John and Sandy Burrows for their hospitality during our visit to the Buffelskloof Private Nature Reserve.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tanya Hattingh

Tanya Hattingh finished her PhD, focusing on the phytoliths of African domesticates, in 2018 and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand from 2020 to 2022. She is currently collaborating with an inter-disciplinary research team focusing on palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province using multiple proxies, including phytoliths, pollen and diatoms.

Marion K. Bamford

Marion K. Bamford is Professor in Palaeobotany and Director of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand. She is a co-director of the Olduvai Landscape and Palaeoanthropology Project in Tanzania and is involved in other research projects on hominin and archaeological sites in Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa. She has conducted research on fossil woods, as well as pollen and phytoliths, from the Permian period to the Holocene.

Maria H. Schoeman

Maria H. Schoeman is Associate Professor in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She leads the South African Farmscapes and Food Research Programme that is expanding knowledge about African farmscapes, food production and consumption during the last two millennia in northeastern South Africa.